#you can buy Shadow Herald on Itch.io

[gailynovelry]

Hi I just want to say I loved reading Shadow Herald and Winter Herald. I bought both during the pride sale and couldn't put them down once I started reading. I love the world you've built and Meparik especially.

What I'd like to know, is besides buying your books and recommending them to others, is there a way to help support your work? Do you have a ko-fi or something similar?

This is so sweet, nonny! I’m glad that they resonated with you!

I tried ko-fi and patreon while ago, but I didn’t feel like I had the ability to put out good content frequently enough for those sites, so I ended up scrapping them.

So as of right now, I think that other helpful things you can do are; leaving reviews on Itch.io, recommending the books to appropriate databases, and weirdly enough, just . . . interacting with me from time to time.

Money is always a help, but I’m well aware that my stories are a labor of love done in my free time and will probably never be a main source of income. I write Heralds of Rhimn specifically because these are the sort of stories I wish I’d had when I was a teen. So what actually keeps me going is knowing that other people do enjoy having them now!

(And also getting to chatter about silly things, like the structural difference between Gadhian and Ulluic names.)

Hope you have a lovely day, nonny!

#nice anons #writeblr #Heralds of Rhimn #indie books #queer fantasy #queer fiction

[gailynovelry]

After I get Winter Herald out on Itch.io, I’m considering getting it and Shadow Herald reformatted for only physical copy on Am*zon. I still hate working with Am*zon, but I know a lot of people who prefer physical copies, sometimes for book lover reasons and sometimes for accessibility reasons. It’s also going to be a good opportunity to revise Shadow Herald one last time. I’ve altered some of my editing and formatting conventions, and I want it to match the rest of the series!

So if you really want a physical copy, you can buy it from there in a few months. But if you want to support me as a creator and/or prefer ebook anyway, you’ll be able to grab it off of Itch.io for cheaper. I'm only selling the ebooks on Itch.io so that I'm not forced to contend with Am*zon's profit theft and other assorted jackasserys.

#it's the worst #but it's the only place where i fully know what i'm doing with the physical copies #thus . . . yeah #i would reformat SH mostly because hot damn i want to readjust the cover colors so that it's not so dark #writeblr #publishing #indie books #queer fiction

[gailynovelry]

Feyrie Naming Conventions:

Fey name themselves after they grow old enough to talk. Before they do, they’re referred to in general terms (“the kid”, “this baby”, “our child”) or by a temporary name, depending on their court’s traditions.

Fey don’t typically take middle names.

Courted fey usually adopt their court as a surname (“Meparik of the Frostbitten Court”, “Fea of the Windriders”, “Eustais of the Lycarious Court”), while solitary fey might adopt residence or profession as their surname (“Morekai of Hybirah”, “Ainzel the Summer Herald”, “Charlan the Shopkeep”).

Yes, some fey will name themselves after nouns, adjectives, etc (“Snow”, “Russet”). It’s more common in the wildercourts, but city fey will do so just as readily if it strikes their fancy.

A fey might change their name if they feel that they have grown out of their old one, or if they have changed their gender identity. It’s common (and sometimes expected) for fey to change their name after assuming a leadership position.

#worldbuilding #dark fantasy #lesbian #saphic #writeblr #fantasy names #published works #you can buy Shadow Herald on Itch.io

[gailynovelry]

Ulluan Naming Conventions:

Ulluic surnames are typically passed down matrilineally, except for some very rare and specific edgecases where a dwindling noble family only has sons left to continue the line.

(If you’re wlw or mlm, you basically get to pick which of your names goes to your kids. Again, unless you’re nobility. The noble house with the least members will then pass on their name.)

Ullua is vast and less culturally authoritarian/uniform than Gadhi, so there are many different traditions for first names. Some of the more dominant ones are; letting the mother pick the first name, naming firstborns after a grandmother, asking Alluari or the Romne for suggestions at a local shrine, and gifting the child a water-based name for good fortune.

#worldbuilding #dark fantasy #lesbian #saphic #writeblr #fantasy names #published works #you can buy Shadow Herald on Itch.io

[gailynovelry]

Gadhian Naming Conventions:

Gadhian surnames are taken from the parent with the most prestige.

In marriages between nobility, the family with the most lauded hairjeweling is typically the one who passes down their surname.

Peasants do not have hairjeweling (it’s illegal to wear it if you don’t have a temple-recorded title of nobility) so they get more flexibility in determining who has more prestige. “Prestige” can be social capital, like property rights, material accomplishments, or working in respected professions. Sometimes, it’s just whoever’s got a wealthier family.

Naming a child is considered a cooperative, bonding effort between the parents. Typically, one parent will select one aspect of the name — beginning letter, must have a divine meaning, must be a kind of flower, etc — and the other will use this aspect to pick a more specific name.

Rural households will sometimes gift children harvest-based names for good luck and abundance.

Nobles favor gemstone and metal names, as well as names with holy histories with Gardhe, such as the name of previous Herald-Regents, or virtue-based names.

#worldbuilding #dark fantasy #lesbian #saphic #writeblr #fantasy names #published works #you can buy Shadow Herald on Itch.io

[gailynovelry]

It’s been a while since I last talked about names on Rhimn, so here I go rambling on about it!

Character Names:

Crislie Crimsworth: Crislie’s first name means “fire-tender”. It’s pretty common, like being named “Jane”. So’s her surname, which came from her Ma. She wasn’t given her Da’s surname because having a court name would be a VERY bad move in an Irongardhe-ruled village. Ma specified that her children’s first names needed to be humble, and Da chose accordingly.

Meparik of the Frostbitten Court: Mep took his first name from a character in his favorite book. His surname is simply the name of his court.

Navaeli the Shadow Herald: Navaeli once had another name, but she forgot it when Silamir raised her into undeath. “Navaeli” isn’t a “real” name by Ulluic standards, and it’s quite on the nose — it could translate to “the one who stands against the sun,” or more simply, “the enemy of sunlight.” (Since “na-“ is “in opposition to”, “vae” is “harsh sunlight” or “sunlight (derogatory)”, and -li specifies singularity.) Silamir was the one who coined the name. Navaeli has considered changing it, but it’s one of the few solid consistencies she’s had while on the run.

#worldbuilding #dark fantasy #lesbian #saphic #writeblr #fantasy names #published works #you can buy Shadow Herald on Itch.io